Hotkey Reference — Emulators, Multiplexers, Shells

Keybindings for each layer of the terminal stack, plus an onboarding path that doesn’t require memorizing everything day one.

Layer precedence: keystrokes flow emulator → multiplexer → shell/app, first-claim-wins. See terminal emulator stack research for the full layer model.

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Emulator: Windows Terminal (defaults)

Free, pre-installed on modern Windows. Reconfigure in Settings → Actions or settings.json.

Tabs

Action	Key
New tab (default profile)	Ctrl+Shift+T
New tab from profile 1–9	Ctrl+Shift+1..9
Close tab / pane	Ctrl+Shift+W
Next / prev tab	Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Jump to tab N	Ctrl+Alt+1..9

Panes (built-in, Windows-native)

Action	Key
Split horizontal	Alt+Shift+- (minus)
Split vertical	Alt+Shift+= (plus)
Move between panes	Alt+Arrow
Resize pane	Alt+Shift+Arrow

Window / UI

Action	Key
New window	Ctrl+Shift+N
Command palette (searchable)	Ctrl+Shift+P
Settings (GUI)	Ctrl+,
Settings (JSON file)	Ctrl+Shift+,
Zoom in / out	Ctrl++ / Ctrl+-
Fullscreen	F11

Clipboard / find

Action	Key
Copy / paste	Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V
Find in scrollback	Ctrl+Shift+F

Limitations for agentic work:

• No “clone tab at current remote SSH cwd” equivalent.
• OSC 52 clipboard bridge from WSL → Windows is limited.
• Keybinding customization is JSON-only; no scripting.

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Emulator: WezTerm (defaults)

Highly configurable via ~/.wezterm.lua (or %USERPROFILE%\.wezterm.lua on Windows). See profiles/wezterm/ in this repo for my config.

Tabs

Action	Default key	Notes
New tab	Ctrl+Shift+T
Close tab	Ctrl+Shift+W
Next / prev tab	Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Jump to tab N	Ctrl+Shift+1..9	Slower than my custom Alt+1..9
Show tab navigator (fuzzy pick)	Ctrl+Shift+Space (custom)	Very handy when you have many tabs

Panes (built-in, but most people use a multiplexer instead)

Action	Default key
Split horizontal	Ctrl+Shift+Alt+"
Split vertical	Ctrl+Shift+Alt+%
Move between panes	Ctrl+Shift+Arrow
Close pane	Ctrl+Shift+W

Window / UI

Action	Key
Command palette (searchable, all bindings)	Ctrl+Shift+P
Launcher menu (profiles + custom entries)	Ctrl+Shift+L
Show debug overlay	Ctrl+Shift+L + debug mode
Copy mode (vim-like selection)	Ctrl+Shift+X
Quick select (grab URLs / hashes with one keystroke)	Ctrl+Shift+Space
Reload config	Ctrl+Shift+R

Clipboard

Action	Key
Copy / paste	Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V

Agentic-workflow value-adds (via Lua config)

These aren’t defaults — they require config, but they’re why WezTerm wins for this use case:

Action	Suggested binding	What it does
Bootstrap SSH + pa	Ctrl+Shift+D	ssh -t desktop pa in a new tab
Clone tab at remote cwd	Ctrl+Shift+Enter	Re-SSHes and cds to the pane’s OSC-7 reported path
Named workspace launch	Ctrl+Shift+L → pick	Launch menu entry per workspace

See the profiles/wezterm/wezterm.lua config for implementations.

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Emulator: Kitty (defaults)

Best keyboard-first emulator, but Windows/WSL story is weaker. Configuration via ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf.

Tabs

Action	Key
New tab	Ctrl+Shift+T
Close tab	Ctrl+Shift+Q
Next / prev tab	Ctrl+Shift+] / Ctrl+Shift+[
Jump to tab N	Ctrl+Shift+1..9
Rename tab	Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T

Windows (Kitty’s term for splits within a tab)

Action	Key
New window	Ctrl+Shift+Enter
Close window	Ctrl+Shift+W
Next / prev window	Ctrl+Shift+. / Ctrl+Shift+,
Jump to window N	Ctrl+Shift+N+1..9

Killer feature: remote control

# From any kitty-hosted shell:
kitty @ new-tab --cwd=current   # clones tab at the CURRENT directory, even over SSH
kitty @ launch --type=tab vim   # opens vim in a new tab
kitty @ ls                      # lists all tabs/windows as JSON

Set allow_remote_control yes in kitty.conf. Over SSH, Kitty multiplexes its control protocol through the same connection — no extra SSH needed.

Command palette / search

Action	Key
Show actions (searchable)	Ctrl+Shift+F2
Search scrollback	Ctrl+Shift+F
Copy mode	Ctrl+Shift+H

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Emulator: Ghostty (defaults)

Newest of the bunch. Opinionated, minimal config. Configuration via ~/.config/ghostty/config.

Tabs

Action	Key (macOS / Linux)
New tab	Cmd+T / Ctrl+Shift+T
Close tab	Cmd+W / Ctrl+Shift+W
Next / prev tab	Cmd+Shift+] / Cmd+Shift+[
Jump to tab N	Cmd+1..9 / Ctrl+1..9

Splits

Action	Key
Split right / down	Cmd+D / Cmd+Shift+D
Navigate between splits	Cmd+Alt+Arrow
Resize split	Cmd+Shift+Arrow

Window / UI

Action	Key
New window	Cmd+N / Ctrl+Shift+N
Fullscreen	Cmd+Ctrl+F
Quick terminal (drop-down)	Cmd+Shift+Space

Status

• Windows support still nascent; Mac + Linux solid.
• No Lua. Config is a flat key = value file. Simpler, less flexible than WezTerm.

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Multiplexer: Zellij (defaults)

Discoverable keybindings — the status bar at the bottom always shows available keys for the current mode. Configuration in ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl.

Modes (Zellij-specific concept)

Zellij groups keybindings by mode. You enter a mode, then press a single-letter action, then Enter/Esc.

Mode	Enter with	What it does
Normal	(default)	Type into the shell
Pane	Ctrl+P	Split / move / close panes
Tab	Ctrl+T	Create / navigate tabs
Resize	Ctrl+N	Resize panes
Scroll	Ctrl+S	Page up/down scrollback
Session	Ctrl+O	Session list / detach / quit
Move	Ctrl+H	Move panes/tabs around
Search	Ctrl+F	Search scrollback

Common actions (from Normal mode)

Action	Key	Notes
Detach (keep session alive)	Ctrl+O → d	Survives SSH disconnect
Kill session	Ctrl+O → w → select	Nuke it
Split horizontal / vertical	Ctrl+P → d / r
New tab	Ctrl+T → n
Next / prev tab	Ctrl+T → l / h	Vim-like
Zoom pane (full screen)	Ctrl+P → f

Shortcuts (bypass the mode dance)

Zellij also has direct combos for very common actions:

Action	Key
Detach	Ctrl+O d
Close focused pane	Ctrl+P x
Toggle zoom	Alt+F
Next pane	Alt+[/] (configurable)

Session attach-detach

zellij ls                    # list sessions
zellij attach <name>         # attach existing
zellij attach -c <name>      # attach or create
zellij kill-session <name>   # kill

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Multiplexer: tmux (defaults)

Prefix-key-based. Press Ctrl+B (the prefix), let go, then press the action key. Configuration in ~/.tmux.conf.

Tabs (called “windows” in tmux)

Action	Key
New window	Ctrl+B c
Close window	Ctrl+B & (prompt)
Next / prev window	Ctrl+B n / p
Jump to window N	Ctrl+B 1..9
List windows	Ctrl+B w
Rename window	Ctrl+B ,

Panes

Action	Key
Split vertical	Ctrl+B %
Split horizontal	Ctrl+B "
Navigate panes	Ctrl+B Arrow
Close pane	Ctrl+B x
Toggle zoom	Ctrl+B z
Show pane numbers	Ctrl+B q

Session

Action	Key / command
Detach	Ctrl+B d
List sessions	Ctrl+B s or tmux ls
Attach	tmux attach -t <name>
New session	tmux new -s <name>

Copy mode (scrollback + selection)

Action	Key
Enter copy mode	Ctrl+B [
Exit	q
Search	Ctrl+S (forward) / Ctrl+R (back)

Common reconfiguration: most people rebind prefix from Ctrl+B to Ctrl+A or Ctrl+Space for speed. Add to ~/.tmux.conf:

unbind C-b
set -g prefix C-a
bind C-a send-prefix

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Shell: bash / zsh readline bindings

Shell-level bindings that survive through emulator + multiplexer. These conflict easily with multiplexer bindings if you’re not careful.

Action	Key
Start / end of line	Ctrl+A / Ctrl+E
Kill to end / start of line	Ctrl+K / Ctrl+U
Kill word backward / forward	Ctrl+W / Alt+D
Search history	Ctrl+R
History prev / next	Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N (or arrows)
Move by word	Alt+B / Alt+F
Clear screen	Ctrl+L
Paste yanked	Ctrl+Y
Undo	Ctrl+_
Cancel line	Ctrl+C
EOF / exit	Ctrl+D

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How to get used to it (onboarding path)

You don’t need to memorize 150 keybindings. Learn in layers, expand as friction points appear.

Day 1 — five keys per tool

Emulator:

• Ctrl+Shift+T — new tab
• Ctrl+Tab — next tab
• Ctrl+Shift+P — command palette (your cheat sheet is always here)
• Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V — copy / paste

Multiplexer (Zellij specifically — it literally tells you the keys):

• Ctrl+P — enter pane mode, then the status bar shows you what each key does
• Ctrl+O d — detach (crucial for SSH workflows)
• Ctrl+T n — new tab

Shell:

• Ctrl+R — search history (life-changing)
• Ctrl+A / Ctrl+E — line nav
• Ctrl+L — clear screen

That’s twelve keys. Drive with just these for a week.

Day 3 — add the navigation accelerators

• Alt+1..9 in emulator (if configured) — jump to tab by number
• Ctrl+Shift+Space (WezTerm) — fuzzy tab picker
• Ctrl+W (bash) — delete last word
• Zellij: learn Alt+F (toggle zoom pane) and Alt+[ / ] (cycle panes)

Week 1 — add your workflow shortcuts

The big ergonomic wins are custom, not defaults:

• Ctrl+Shift+D → ssh -t desktop pa (bootstrap in one key)
• Ctrl+Shift+Enter → clone tab at current remote cwd
• Launch menu entries per workspace

See profiles/wezterm/wezterm.lua for reference implementations.

Ongoing — use the command palette as your cheat sheet

Every modern emulator has one (Ctrl+Shift+P in WezTerm, Windows Terminal, most editors). Type what you want to do, it shows you the binding. You learn keys by encountering them in context, not by memorizing tables.

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Tips for not getting lost

Symptom	Fix
”Which layer is eating my keys?”	Remember: emulator → mux → shell. First claim wins. Unbind from the wrong layer.
”I forgot the key for X”	Command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P). Or look up this page.
”Same key does different things depending on mode”	Zellij modes. Check the status bar; it shows the current mode’s keys.
”Nothing works when I’m in Claude / vim”	The app is claiming the key. Send through with an escape layer key, or use the emulator’s escape-passthrough config.
”My bindings vanish over SSH”	The emulator only sees local keys. Anything inside SSH is handled by the remote mux + shell.

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See also

• 02-stack / 02-terminal / index.md — the stratum-2 terminal picks (Zellij + tmux + Portagenty)
• 03-work / agent-context / terminal emulator stack research — the layer model
• profiles / keybindings / opencode-zellij — my Zellij + OpenCode config
• profiles / wezterm — WezTerm Lua config (once written)
• Official docs: WezTerm · Windows Terminal · Zellij · tmux